1997 850 weird no start issue - electrical?

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 05 Apr 2014, 12:56

Hey,

I recently had a very strange problem with my 1997 850 NA not starting. Here's the story.

I drove it a couple miles to the library, parked, shut it off, and after being in the library about 5 min, it wouldn't start when I went to leave. The battery is new, the alternator is fine, and the lights and everything turned on fine. But when I turned the key, the starter turned over like twice and then sounded like something was seizing up. I tried a couple times, then waited for AAA to come tow it, since it couldn't stay there overnight. (this was in the evening.)
The guy with the tow truck also tried starting it, and same thing. It started to turn over plenty fast, and then just acted stuck.
So I had it towed to my mechanic's, a few blocks through town.

Here is where it gets even more strange. The next morning, it started up just fine. And the day after that as well. My mechanic can't find anything wrong.

Anyone have any ideas?

The other thing I think might be relevant, is that before I drove it to the library, it had been sitting for a day in very hard rain. Since then it has been mostly dry out.
But what is weird is that it started fine for me to drive it out that day to the library.

Anyway, any suggestions welcome, as I am quite stumped by all this!

Thanks,
Cedar

Post by **abscate** » 05 Apr 2014, 14:03

It could be a bad ignition switch or sticking valves. Definitely go with switch !!

Post by **rspi** » 05 Apr 2014, 20:32

If it happens again, try getting it jumped. If it jumps fine, you likely have battery cable issues.

Post by **jreed** » 06 Apr 2014, 05:35

My '97 850 occasionally failed to turn over during rainy weather and I thought it was a bad starter. It turned out to be a corroded positive battery-to-starter cable at the battery end.

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 06 Apr 2014, 06:36

I'll investigate the cables more thoroughly, but at the battery end the look fine. I would think that if it was a bad cable then it wouldn't turn over at all. But it was starting to turn immediately, then acting 'stuck'?.....

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 06 Apr 2014, 16:42

Any other ideas? I want to make sure I've checked everything I can check before I take it on a road trip leaving wednesday. Hasn't happened again, but I haven't really driven it either.
Thanks for the help!

Post by **jreed** » 06 Apr 2014, 16:52

On my battery cable, the corrosion was not visible from outside. I had to remove the insulation and look inside to see it.
One of the symptoms was no crank when hot. I think the heat in the engine bay made the battery cable connection more resistive, which eventually prevented enough current from flowing to the starter to turn the engine over.
I finally measured the voltage drop across the cable during starting and found about a 1 Volt drop, which is huge. When I pushed the side of the wire against the terminal, the car would crank and then start.
I ended up building my own cable to replace the corroded one.... I wrote up a short DIY here:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=61747